early budgetary crisis would not be jeopardized for our one true ally in the middle east, the state of israel. this included showing some support for what is become widely dome of the iron rocket defense system. but our focus in the middle east has certainly not stopped there. we've gone to great lengths in this congress to zero in on what i believe is the greatest threat we have to our own national security, and that is a nuclear armed iran. i've been pleased to team with representative ted deutch and senator kirk on a number of bills to stem this -- and confront this threat. our actions have ranged from strengthening sanctions on iran's energy sector to promoting human rights and democracy inside iran and much more. in fact, one of our most important accomplishments in this congress will have been a strong sanctions package which passed both houses this summer and which included these provisions that we authored. finally, i'd like to highlight the ongoing work to pass a bipartisan budget agreement. this is an initiative that i have been proud to advance, starting with the bipartisan letter